Early years Cricket was introduced to the island by the British as a result of
the colonization and the first recorded match dates back to 1832 as reported in
The Colombo Journal. By the 1880s a national team, the Ceylon national cricket team, was formed which began playing
first-class cricket by the 1920s. The Ceylon national cricket team achieved Associate Member status of the
International Cricket Council in 1965. Renamed Sri Lanka in 1972, the national team first competed in top-level international cricket in 1975, when they were defeated by nine
wickets by the
West Indies during the
1975 Cricket World Cup at
Old Trafford, England.
Underdog Era Sri Lanka was awarded Test cricket status in 1981 by the
International Cricket Conference. They played their first Test match
against England at
P. Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo, on 17 February 1982.
Bandula Warnapura was the captain for
Sri Lanka in that match, which England won by 7 wickets. After Sri Lanka was awarded Test status on 21 July 1981 as eighth Test playing nation, they had to wait until 6 September 1985, where Sri Lanka recorded their first Test win by beating India, in the second match of the series by 149 runs at the
Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium,
Colombo. They have also won the
2001-02 Asian Test Championship, defeating
Pakistan in the final by an innings and 175 runs. Sri Lanka won their first Test match under the leadership of
Duleep Mendis on 11 September 1985 against
India, winning by 149 runs at P. Saravanamuttu Stadium. Eventually they won the three-match Test series, 1–0. Sri Lanka had to wait more than seven years for their next series victory, which came against
New Zealand in December 1992, when they won the two-match series 1–0. This was immediately followed by a one-wicket victory against
England in a one-Test series. Two years later, on 15 March 1995, Sri Lanka won their first overseas Test match under the leadership of
Arjuna Ranatunga against New Zealand, when they beat them by 241 runs at
Napier. This win also resulted in their first overseas Test series victory, 1–0. Their next series too was an overseas series, against
Pakistan, and that one too resulted in Sri Lankan victory. Sri Lanka registered their first ODI win against
India at Old Trafford, England on 16 June 1979.
Modern era , Sri Lankan team reached their third final in the
Cricket World Cups After many years of underdog status, Sri Lanka finally entered the limelight of the cricketing world after winning the
1996 Cricket World Cup under the captaincy of
Arjuna Ranatunga. Meanwhile, they revolutionized modern day batting strategies by rapid scoring during the first 15 overs. Sri Lanka later became the co-champions in
2002 ICC Champions Trophy and also became six times Asian champions in
1986,
1997,
2004,
2008,
2014 and
2022. On 11 September 1999, under the leadership of
Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka won their first Test match against
Australia, when they beat them by six wickets at
Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy. Eventually they won the three-match Test series, 1–0. On 14 June 2000, Sri Lanka played their 100th Test match. It was against
Pakistan, at
SSC,
Colombo, under the leadership of
Sanath Jayasuriya. Pakistan won by 5 wickets. , Sri Lanka went on to win the match On 4 August 2016, they played their 250th Test match when they played
Australia in Galle. They won the match by 229 runs, and also won the
Warne-Muralidharan trophy for the first time since its inception. On 17 August 2016, under the leadership of
Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka whitewashed Australia 3-0 for the first time in Test cricket. Until 2017, Sri Lanka had whitewashed Zimbabwe three times, Bangladesh once and Australia once in Test cricket. Sri Lanka played their first
day-night Test match on 6 October 2017 against Pakistan at
Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Under the captaincy of
Dinesh Chandimal, Sri Lanka convincingly won the match by 68 runs and sweep the series 2–0. In the match,
Dimuth Karunaratne became the first Sri Lankan to score a fifty, a century and a 150 in a day-night Test.
Lahiru Gamage, who debut in the match became the first Sri Lankan to take a wicket in a day-night Test, whereas
Dilruwan Perera became the first Sri Lankan to take a five-wicket haul in a day-night Test. Sri Lanka played their first
Twenty20 International (T20I) match at the
Rose Bowl, on 15 June 2006, against England, winning the match by 2 runs. In 2014, they won the
2014 ICC World Twenty20, defeating India by 6 wickets. , Sri Lanka won the match, despite trailing in the first inning As of July 2018, Sri Lanka have faced nine teams in Test cricket, only recent Test nations Afghanistan and Ireland are missing from their list of opponents, with their most frequent opponent being
Pakistan, playing 55 matches against them. Sri Lanka has registered more wins against
Pakistan and
Bangladesh than any other team, with 14. Within usual major ODI nations, Sri Lanka have defeated
England on 34 occasions, which is their best record in ODIs. Sri Lanka was the best T20I team in the world, where they ranked number one in more than 32 months, and reached World Twenty20 final in three times. As of 29 January 2024, Sri Lanka have played 313 Test matches; they have won 100 matches, lost 121 matches, and 92 matches were
drawn. As of 10 July 2018, Sri Lanka have played 816 ODI matches, winning 376 matches and losing 399; they also tied 5 matches, whilst 36 had
no result. As of 10 July 2018, Sri Lanka have played 108 T20I matches and won 54 of them; 52 were lost and 1 tied and 1 no result match as well. From 8 July 2017 to 23 October 2017, Sri Lanka lost twelve consecutive ODI matches, which is their second-longest losing run in ODIs. In the meantime, Sri Lanka involved 5-0 whitewash in three times against South Africa, India and Pakistan in 2017. And a 3-0 whitewash against the West Indies 3 years later (2020). On 9 September 2019, Sri Lanka won the T20I series 3–0 against
Pakistan in their home under
Dasun Shanaka's captaincy. It was the first time that Sri Lanka whitewashed Pakistan in a T20I series. In July 2021, Sri Lanka won
T20I series against India 2–1, recording their first ever bilateral T20I series win against India. On 4 March 2022, Sri Lanka played their 300th Test match in
Mohali against India. Sri Lanka lost the match by an innings and 222 runs. Amid political turmoil back home, Sri Lanka won the
2022 Asia Cup, defeating Pakistan in the final on 11 September 2022. On 28 April 2023, Sri Lanka won their 100th Test match against Ireland at Galle. They won the test series 2–0. They became the 8th test nation to reach this milestone. Sri Lanka cricket was suspended, by the ICC on 10 November 2023 due to the alleged political interference with the cricket administration. The suspension was fully lifted on 28 January 2024. After 2026 Men's T20 World Cup Defeats, a protest was held outside the headquarters of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), with demonstrators demanding the resignation of the cricket board over the national team’s continued string of poor performances. The protest, led by a Buddhist monk, saw participants urging SLC President
Shammi Silva to step down. Chanting slogans for the board to “go home,” protesters accused officials of failing to revive the standards and reputation of Sri Lanka cricket. ==Governing body==